March 8th 2011
Georgia and Enterprise were driving through the state of Florida.
The state had seen better days. Disney had pulled out and failed after the 9 visited Disney California. The Zombie Mickey Mouse's running around attacking park guests did a lot to the Disney brand. Miami was fully underwater, and Meritt island was a ghost town. The island which in another world would be the spot for space tourism was abandoned.
"Are you sure that this is the right place Georgia?" Enterprise asks looking out the window of the borrowed tan honda odyssey.
"Yes, it is. Though this isn't how I remember it." Georgia says sadly.
Minutes later Georgia rolls up to a military checkpoint.
"Ma'am, are you lost?" The guard asks
One could hear the audible click of the safety being turned off of his M-16.
"I'm just trying to get to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's complex," Georgia says
"It's been closed ever since the incident in 81." The guard says
"What happened in 81?" Georgia asks
The guard looks at Georgia skeptically. "Columbia was lost with all hands, between that and the golden man it killed the space program."
The radio suddenly barks to life on the guard's shoulder.
"Ma'am… I don't know who you are but they are saying to let you through. There are things the public yet doesn't know about. I suggest you stay quiet about them."
The guard heads back into the checkpoint and opens the gate for Georgia and Enterprise.
"I kinda wish we brought Independence and her escorts," Enterprise says
"I know right? I smell a mystery." Georgia says driving forward in the reappropriated van.
=======================================
Georgia pulled up to the visitor center parking lot from her memories. The place was severely weathered and the concrete was cracked. There was a total of 3 cars in the lot.
"Georgia, why is it so empty?" Enterprise asks, trying to ignore the gloomy atmosphere.
"I don't know," Georgia says, putting the van into the park.
Enterprise opened the door and stepped out of the van.
Georgia was short to follow.
"I guess, we should head on in," Georgia says walking towards the ticket booth.
The first thing Georgia saw was a stone monument before she even came close to the rocket garden.
=================================================================================================
In Memory
Of
The crew of STS-1.
The gods do not give lightly of the powers they have made,
With Columbia, again the price was paid.
Though a nation watched her falling, and the world could only cry.
As they passed from us to glory, Riding fire in the sky.
John Young
Robert Crippen
=================================================================================================
Georgia collapsed onto her knees upon reading that plaque.
"That's not what was supposed to happen. Scion didn't even appear until 82. The timeline should've been the same till then." Georgia mutters horrified.
"The disrepair is quite a sight isn't it?" A voice says behind Georgia and Enterprise.
========================================================
James Hansen was the name of their guide.
It felt familiar to Georgia yet she couldn't tell why.
"I just want to say thank you for that pounding you gave the Simurgh," Hansen says
"What happened to this place." Georgia asked
"The golden man and the tinkers happened." Hansen
"It got this bad? What happened with the shuttle? I mean Columbia's launch was known to be a test launch. It being lost should've been a set back not the death of the space program." Georgia says
"You're correct, Challenger should've been done in 1983 instead. It's still half put together in a hangar. Congress cut the budget after STS-1, then the Parahumans showed up. They cut more budget, and someone showed our administrator the video footage from aboard Columbia and it was suspended indefinitely." Hansen answers
"Footage of Columbia?" Georgia asked
Hansen nods to himself.
"I can show you, your vice admiral friend gave you some amazing clearance. We found the camera intact among the debris." Hansen says
The trio walked toward where the IMAX should've been. Instead, it was an old theater that smelled of mold. The interior looked like it hadn't been updated since the 70s.
"You two take a seat, I am going to go start the film," Hansen says
"Thank you," Enterprise says knowing Georgia is still in shock.
=========================
The film begins several minutes into the launch.
"Crew is cleared 73 nautical miles down range." Mission control
"It's a pretty bumpy ride. Feel's like my truck." John Young says
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The blue sky begins to turn dark.
"Velocity reading now 16 thousand 4 hundred feet per second." Mission control
The curve of the earth is clearly visible and it is an amazing sight even on an old film camera.
" Standing by for single engine press to Miko, call out from capcom, Brandon sight." Mission control
It's a tense few seconds as the shuttle begins to enter a suborbital path.
" From here you're a single engine. Press for Miko. You're good for orbital insertion even if two engines go out."
"Mark 7 minutes 30 seconds. Columbia, 67 nautical miles altitude, 4 hundred 85 down range."
"G force's building you're now up to 3 Gs."
"We are really feeling, it now." John Young says
"Mark, 7 minutes 45 seconds."
The entire camera view jolt's violently
"Master alarm going off!" John Young shouts
"Code 7700," Robert Crippen reiterates
"The cabin is depressurizing." Mission Control
"We Read you on the ground Columbia. Keep those suits on." Mission control
"WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT!" John's panicked voice is picked up over the radio
The film camera facing out of the window had the Simurgh looking directly into it. A cruel smile on its face as its wings came down and sliced off the wing of Columbia.
"It's an Ang-" Robert's sentence was cut off as radio contact was lost.
The Orbiter was shredded by the end bringer.
The film camera goes fuzzy before it catches the flames of re-entry.
The camera cuts off again only to capture itself tumbling along the ground before facing upwards. It caught bits of debris falling to the ground.
It sat like that for several minutes shaking slightly as the pieces of the spacecraft hit the ground.
======================================================
Georgia was clenching her hand. She had cut herself with her fingernails and was bleeding oil.
"That was 1981! Why was she there!" Georgia shouts.
"Shortly after that encounter, we started losing satellites by the dozen, Eventually decades of progress in space exploration was halted. We lost contact with our probes with nothing to relay the signal and every sattalite we put up she would knock down." Hansen says
"Our rematch will be much more decisive." Georgia state's flatly wishing she had used Katie shells and just killed the false angel in Australia.
"Why is this secret?" Enterprise asks
An endbringer appearing 20 years before her first known appearance should be a big deal.
"Regan, when he saw the footage back in 1981 didn't know that it was a monster. He didn't want it to be known that an angel of the lord had decided mankind didn't deserve to explore the heavens. Knowing what we know now, we know that monster isn't God's angel as much as Eden's gate and the Fallen argue otherwise." Hansen says
Enterprise nods "And you couldn't get the executive order overturned."
"Yep, trying to get an audience with the president in this current political climate is impossible too, why do we need engineers? We got tinkers. There are so many problems on earth, why would we need to go to space? Especially since SHE is blocking us from going beyond low earth orbit." Hansen says with as much spite as possible.
"Tinkers have ruined technological progress. I mean theoretically, we could copy what they do with rarer metals. However, the last time a device was made without a tinker tech component was 1995." Georgia says
Dragon Enterprises produced CPU chips at the cheap which was tinker tech it was impossible for manufacturers to match especially at the price the scrap component tinker tech device could get. That was one example of many, the tech was black-boxed by the space whale and ultimately damaged humanity in the long term.
Hansen nods in understanding.
"What would you two like to see?" Hansen asks
"Could you do the bus tour?" Georgia asks
Hansen looks at Georgia in shock.
"We don't really have the buses anymore, I could do a van tour for you," Hansen says
"I want to show Enterprise the Saturn V building. The Apollo program is something her daughter took part in so I think she would enjoy learning about it." Georgia says
Hansen looks at Enterprise with a critical eye.
"We can do that… So, the rumors are true?" Hansen asks
"That's right, she is CVN-6 and I am BB-70. USS Enterprise and USS Georgia respectively." Georgia says
"Well, you're not a Montana from what I've seen of the pictures so your the 18-inch gun paper ship which was never actually built.." Hansen says
"That's correct," Georgia says
A van suddenly rolls up to the area by the constellation ball where the bus terminal would've been in another world, in another time.
The old astronaut transfer van was still running, when in truth the Clark-Cortez motorhome long since belonged in a museum. The van had been running astronauts to the pad since the first Apollo missions.
"Well, let's go see a moon rocket," Hansen says